Red Locket
by rocky-winchester
Summary: Torchwood. Dead bodies are appearing and something strange is happening, can Jack and his friends save the day?


Jack sat for nearly half an hour studying the silver, heart shaped locket sent to him from Peter Griffiths, an old friend from the 1960's. Peter always used to help Jack, since his retirement he tends to send a lot of things to Torchwood. Some things end up being really useful, some that Ianto might get a bit too over excited about and organized them in the archives, but many things have just been old books, stones and other weird things that, for some reason Jack still kept locked up in his office cupboard.

What Jack held in his hand looked as if it was a part of an ancient necklace, silver, but slightly rusty, there was a face of an elderly woman who Jack could see would have been very good looking in her youth. About half way through studying the somewhat hypnotic locket, Jack could have sworn it started glowing, he wasn't quite sure what he'd seen but it never happened again so he thought nothing of it. It was late, he thought he must have been seeing things, he wanted Toshiko to take a look at it, but her, Owen and Gwen left hours ago. What he really wanted... was a drink.

He looked up, placed the locket on his desk and rubbed his eyes, he took a look around, he noticed Ianto cleaning up the mess they all made earlier in the day, pizza boxes, coke cans, paper stacking up on everyone's desks, all over the floor and over on the big table in the boardroom.

He stopped and stared and was oblivious to the pendant which was, once again, flashing on the desk. He was snapped out of his daydream by Myfanwy, Torchwood's pet pterodactyl screeching from her nest. He got up and opened his office door...

"Ianto, leave that" he ordered.

Ianto looked up and smiled.

"There's a lot to do sir, it needs to be tidy before morning"

"No, I'll get them to do it tomorrow, it's not fair that you have to clean everyone's shit up all the time", said Jack still not taking his eyes off of Ianto as he quickly cleaned up the last bits of paper off Owens desk. "Now come on, I'll make us a drink"

Jack turned away, went to the desk, got two glasses and started pouring them each a drink of his own very expensive whiskey.

"How are you Ianto?" Jack had noticed Ianto looked a bit fed up and worn out as he pulled the spare chair up to the desk.

"I'm okay sir, just a bit tired" Ianto looked up and stared into Jack's eyes.

Jack raised an eyebrow; he stared back as though trying to see straight through him. Ianto sighed, put his hands to his face, thinking hard. He sighed again and looked up. Jack leaned forward and started rubbing Ianto's shoulder as a sign of support.

"Last night..." Ianto started, "I went to meet someone... He was really nice, good looking, funny, very chatty, I only got his first name, but he seemed interested, we exchanged numbers but..."

"He wasn't as well endowed as you'd hoped?" Jack laughed.

"I wouldn't know, I phoned but the lines were dead, he obviously wasn't interested, just stringing me along as most people do."

"Ianto, I...". Jack started but stopped as the phone rang. He put his glass down, dashed to the other side of the desk.

"This is Jack, what ya got?"... After about 5 minutes of 'mhm'ing' he put the phone down and grabbed his coat.

Ianto looked up at him and asked what the rush was.

"That was P.C Andy. There's a man... dead... in town."

"That doesn't sound very Torchwood" Ianto stated.

"Weird apparently, wanna come check it out?"

"Got nothing better to do tonight" Ianto rolled his eyes, downed his drink, got his car keys and darted down the stairs, following Jack's lead.

They pulled up, got out of the big, fancy, black SUV stamped 'Torchwood', the onlookers, policemen and women stepped out of the way making room for Jacks stylish entrance. P.C Andy ran up and started to explain what he _thought_ had happened.

".. and there's a huge gash in his chest, looks a bit more your style" Jack shushed Andy, it seemed that Jack hadn't really listened to anything he said, so he just stood back looking a bit pissed off.

Jack had run to the body, started examining the very handsome corpse lying in a pool of blood.

_Yep, this is definitely more our style._ Jack thought.

Ianto had come over and Jack had noticed he wasn't doing his usual _'oo what the bloody hell did this_' speech, and looked up, he was staring, he wasn't moving, he was in total shock.

"Ianto?"... Jack shouted and grabbed his friend's hand.

"That's... him... the man... Steve... The one I told you about." Ianto's voice was shaking and tears welled up in his eyes, "Who the hell did this Jack!"

"Here", Jack passed him his phone. "Phone Owen, we need him to do an autopsy and figure it out. Don't worry, we'll find whoever did this."

Jack smiled his warm comforting smile which always made Ianto's heart melt, but not this time.

Gwen was staying at Tosh's house for a few nights, while Rhys was away and her flat was getting re-decorated. When they got to the hub, Owen was alone in the autopsy room.

"Must be a busy morning, Owens working already" Gwen said to Tosh with a wink.

"Try busy night" Owen shouted from down below. "Bodies have been piling in, very strange"

Gwen and Tosh went and stood by the body he was now working on, they looked the body up and down and seemed disgusted yet intrigued.

"Owen! Another!" Jack shouted while he and Ianto carrying another body, nearly running through the hub and placed the corpse next to 5 others. "Morning' girls... everyone... boardroom... Now!"

Jack filled in the girls on what had happened in the early hours of that morning. Explained how they had a call, seen a body, phoned Owen, and since then, found 6 more.

".. So there are 7 men in there, dead, having been ripped apart by someone so obviously not human and we have no idea what's happened to them?" Gwen concluded.

"Exactly" answered Jack "Owen, anything?"

"Not a clue. The only thing they have in common is the mass amounts of alcohol in there system and the deep gashes in their chests"

"Right, well, we have ID from them, Tosh, you find out if they had anything in common, you find ANYTHING and I want to know, got it?"

Toshiko Sato was sat next to Jack, she took everything Ianto retrieved from the bodies, nodded, went to her computer and started her research.

"Owen", Jack continued. "You carry on, check their DNA and see if you can see any markings or anything similar to the others"

He turned to look at Gwen. "You... You go to the police station, find Andy, see if you can get a hold of the pictures the police took this morning, and find out what you can"

"Sir, you want me to do anything" Ianto asked.

Jack could see he was still quite in shock, upset and angry, he shook his head. "No, Ianto, go get some rest."... He took a deep breath. "Right, everyone, this is important; I don't want any more bodies to go and collect now get to work!"

Jack was in his office reading through what Tosh had found, there seemed to be nothing to connect them, different jobs, lived in different areas, different friends, they lived completely separate, completely different lives.

"Jack, you might want to see this", He got up and went to by Owen.

"What?" Jack looked at him, "What?" he asked again.

"There's no bloody blood Jack! None of them, they've been drained, I honestly don't know how I missed this, but some things drained them of their blood... there is still alcohol in there but...!"

"No no, Steve, he was swimming in his blood, they couldn't have been..."

"No, that wasn't his blood! That was ..." Owen stopped for a second, and then continued. "Steve? Why are you on first name basis with the corpse?"

"Suppose you can say it's personal, carry on."

"Right, well... That wasn't his blood. It couldn't have been, none of them have blood, but the majority do have SOME blood on their clothes, I'll run a check but I'd bet my arse it's the same freaking blood."

Jack looked away, pressed his ear-piece and started talking.

"Gwen! Anything?"

"I have pictures, they're all weird but there really just the men, and well there's a woman... erm...!"

"What? What is it?"

"Jack there's a woman in each of these pictures, standing in the distance, staring and... well actually she looks happy, don't you think that's a bit weird?"

"Definitely, I want them here, I want to see them right away! Gwen? Okay? GWEN!"

"Erm, Jack...", she took a deep breath. "Jack, there's a picture... of this woman... Jack, she's talking to Ianto!"

"Shit! Gwen I need you to go to Ianto's and pick him up. Don't leave him alone for a second. Bring him STRAIGHT here! No stops. It might be nothing but I don't want to take any chances"

Jack turned to Tosh and Owen. He was pale. "People, If we don't hunt down this bitch and kill her, the next body we bring in here, could be Ianto."

The streets were dark. It was night time again. Time to kill. She was hungry, needed life, needed to be young. Needed blood. She was beautiful, long brown hair, blowing gently in the night time breeze. She was wearing tight fitted jeans and a very revealing yet stunning silky blouse. The woman looked down and could see before her very eyes, her glamorous, young hands slowly changing, beginning to look old and worn. She needed to eat, NOW!

Jack, Owen and Tosh eagerly waited for Gwen and Ianto.

The hub door opened and in came Gwen, looking fearful and teary eyed.

Jack stood, stared at her and his look of relief turned to anger.

"Where is he! GWEN!"

"There was no answer Jack, I knocked and knocked, I shouted and rang the house phone, then his mobile, then I broke in... he wasn't there Jack."

Everyone but Tosh hit the streets, searching high and low for their friend. They had a time and place to meet back and if they found anything they were to contact each other. Tosh stayed back just in case he came to the hub, and to look on the CCTV and hub monitors for any sign of the use of his phone or in case there was a call from the police ... About another man found dead.

4 times Gwen phoned Jack, asking if he'd seen anything, and once she thought she'd found something, which later they discovered was absolutely of no use right now, and right now, he didn't care about anything else. He just wanted Ianto, safe and sound, no fuss.

After an hour of searching, they all arrived back at the hub, Gwen looked exhausted, Owen looked determined and Jack, Jack looked as if steam were to come pouring out of his ears, oh he was pissed off, upset, he was ready to kill.

He was angrily searching through the pictures and research come from Toshiko and Gwen there was a picture of this woman that Tosh had found on the internet earlier, there was something about it, he paced his office, trying to work out what it was that drew him to THIS particular picture.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a glow, a red misty glow coming from the desk.

"THAT'S IT!" he shouted sounding relieved.

The others ran to his office. He grabbed the locket he was looking at the night before and ran past them, they tutted and ran back down after him.

"Look! Look at this! This locket! That picture! She's wearing this locket"

"Are we sure it's the same one?" Owen asked knowing that was a stupid question, if Jack wasn't 100% sure, he wouldn't sound so happy right now.

"Shut up Owen, I'm never wrong, well sometimes I'm wrong, but not when it matters!" Jack gave the necklace and picture to Tosh and explained about the misty red glow he'd seen both earlier and just a moment ago.

"It is the same one Jack, but... How does it help? We still don't know what she id, where she or how Ianto is."

"Ianto knew the third victim, the first one we found, Steve, they went on a date, he was fond of him, I told him to get some rest, and he obviously didn't want rest. Who would? He was in shock, wanted to drown his sorrows, I mean come on! Owen, where would you go?"

"Hah! That one's easy... the pub"

"EXACTLY! She preys on drunks because for one they can't fight back and blood tastes better with a bit of alcohol, she knocks them out, drinks them to death! In this picture, she can tell Ianto's upset, she knew who he was, she obviously knew he'd go out tonight and she knew she could find him, Gwen... You didn't find him at home because he didn't listen to me, he doubt he even considered going home, he's out getting pissed somewhere and we have to find him."

"Great so now we just have to search every bar in Cardiff, we could be late though Jack"

"That, Ms Cooper, is VERY negative, he only has three drinking spots, he very rarely uses 1 of them, so that's narrowed that down straight away, right, Owen you and Gwen go to Callaghan's bar. Tosh, you and I will check out Lloyds"

They all went on their way, phones and of course guns, at the ready.

Ianto was very drunk; he didn't care what he did or what he was going to do. He was getting chatted up by a very beautiful woman. The loss of losing someone he didn't really even know was painful, but the pain was going slowly, even more so when he was in conversation with this mysterious stranger. He'd opened up to her about the deaths; she seemed to understand and made him feel better. The fact that she hadn't flinched or squirmed at the disgusting ways these people were killed didn't occur to him.

"You're a very lovely young man, what did you say you're name was?"

"Ianto, Ianto Jones, what 'bout you?"

"Oh you can call me whatever you want" she winked, rose from the stool and walked away. She slowly beckoned him to follow her.

They were walking up a long street through the busy town, as they walked, Ianto could feel himself stumbling, he couldn't walk properly and his eyesight was beginning to fade.

_Never drank that much!_ He thought to himself. _What the hell's happening to me?_

"Jack, come here, I have something" Tosh was looking at the technology she was holding which slightly resembled a video iPod but with lights flashing all over it. "There's someone near, it might be her"

They left Lloyds and had started making their way up the long street, there didn't really seem to be a lot of people outside now, just a few by the hole in the wall and some people queuing to get into a nearby night club.

Ianto was being pushed against a wall. He struggled to free himself from the strong grip but she had him by the throat now and he couldn't move... he was scared. If he tried to fight, she'd surely break his neck. She had loosened her grip barely a second but in that time, Ianto had somehow managed to take a very deep breath and shout for help.

"Shut up you stupid child! Or I'll make your death more painful than the others!"

"Shh, Tosh... Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, come on"

Jack had his gun out ready. They ran down the street and looked down alleys, looking for where the scream had come from.

The floor was cold and wet, Ianto was kneeling, he was weak, she was ripping apart the skin on her arms. Blood was pouring out, he was heaving, he felt really ill.

"IANTO!"

Ianto looked around and saw Jack appearing in his long coat and looking more handsome than ever. Tosh appeared behind him looking very relieved to see him.

They both started to make a move towards them, but the woman had stopped pouring blood from her own body, now she looked old, she was grey, looked beaten and worn out, she looked really sick. Before Jack or Tosh could do or say anything, she grabbed Ianto by the hair, tilted him back and started to lick him.

"Tastes good don't he?" announced Jack. "But, sorry, he's not on the menu"

"HA! You are very beautiful, young man" the now old woman turned to Jack, looking him up and down. "I could have you for supper"

"I can bet your arse I'm older than you" Jack slowly started moving towards them.

"Come ANY closer..." she screeched, "and your precious friend here will die... slowly"

"He won't die at all, I wouldn't let you" Jack said firmly.

"Jack... ", Ianto tried talking but he couldn't think of anything to say. Even if he did have something to say, she wouldn't have let him carry on. She was already piercing his skin with her fingernails.

"You've got until the count of three to let my friend go"

"AHAHAHAHA" she cackled "You don't scare me dear. You can't kill me with THAT!" she pointed at the gun he was holding.

Whilst the old hag was un-doing his coat and shirt she discovered Ianto's gun, took it out and without hesitating, fired. And Jack fell. Dead.

Lucky really, that there was only the one bullet or Tosh would be dead too, but she'd actually stay dead.

Gwen and Owen ran up the street where Tosh had told them they were. The first thing they heard was Ianto's screaming cries. They got closer and saw what was happening to him and seen Tosh trying to stop it. They ran past Jack's dead body and tried helping. It was useless.

"There's got to be SOMETHING! Owen help him!" Gwen cried.

"There's nothing I can do, Gwen. We can't help him alone, the old bitch won't die!"

"Hey, Babs! Don't mind if I call you that do ya?" Jack had woken up.

She looked up, angry. "How are you alive? Who are you!"

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness, and you are..." he looked down at the locket he was holding between his fingers and continued, "Barbara Jenkins, am I right?"

"WHERE did you get that!" she let Ianto drop to the floor and walked to Jack. Her eyes were like fire and she seemed to be starting to look younger again.

"Now, before you very rudely shot me. I was saying that my friend over there, not on the menu. Maybe I can't kill you with this..." he help us his gun. "But maybe, just maybe, if I destroy this locket, it will destroy your memory, kill what you've been holding on to and ultimately, kill you."

"NO... DONT!"

She lay on the floor, dead. Jack looked up at his team, they all seemed relieved, then remembered Ianto, they looked over to his unconscious body, he looked drained.

Owen ran over to him and started checking him over, the others watched, scared. He looked up to the others and sighed.

"Is he going to be okay Doctor" Jack asked quietly.

"He's fine, just needs to rest. He was very lucky"

Back at the hub, everywhere was quiet. Tosh and Gwen decided to go home. Owen wanted to wait, make sure Ianto was okay when he woke. Jack sat in his office, overlooking the whole place.

He watched Owen watching Ianto, checking his pulse and his breathing. Jack could see Owen talking, obviously to Ianto but getting to answer. He looked lonely.

Jack walked down to where he sat, next to Ianto on the sofa. "Owen, you've been great tonight, looking after him, making sure he's okay before you leave and everything, thank you for that, you're a very loyal worker, friend and doctor, now come on lets have a drink and wait for him to wake up"

Owen looked up at Jack, his boss, his friend, his Captain. He liked it when Jack complimented him, made him feel good, kinda like when the teacher in school gives you a lollipop for doing your maths homework right.

They walked up to his office, before they reached the top of the stairs, they heard Ianto's voice.

"Hey, I'm the one who was nearly drained to death.. Don't I get a drink?"

Owen ran to him, checked his pulse, his heart rate, his blood.

"Everything okay now Doc?" Jack said with a kind of sarcastic tone.

"Bloody hell, I'm good. Everything's completely fine!" Owen smiled a big smile which turned into an even bigger yawn.

"I'm knackered Jack, I'm gonna pass on that drink, I'm going home. My bed awaits."

"Okay, but tomorrow! You and the girls are cleaning up all the shit you left here yesterday! I want it spotless and Ianto's not doing a damn thing to help any of you"

"Right boss. G'night"

As the door closed behind him, Jack looked at Ianto.

"You scared the shit out of me tonight!"

"Sorry Sir"

"Oh come on, don't call me Sir tonight, this is Jack and Ianto time" He winked and smiled his perfect smile.

Ianto smiled back. Jack took his hand, helped him up and made their way to finish the drink they started the night before.

There would be drinking, talking and probably a lot of sex before this night ended.


End file.
